Health & WellnessS


Bulb

Study reveals why cancer cells like sugar

Durham, N.C. -- U.S. medical researchers say they've discovered why cancer cells like sugar so much -- a finding than might lead to better cancer treatments.

Duke University School of Medicine Assistant Professor Jeffrey Rathmell and graduate student Jonathan Coloff found that tumor cells use glucose as a way to avoid programmed cell death.

People

New kind of killer virus discovered in Bolivia

A team of disease hunters has announced the discovery of a deadly new virus, found in a remote village in South America. Experts say the virus - named Chapare - is probably limited to a small swathe of Bolivia, but urbanisation and climate change could expand its range.

"These pathogens will markedly increase the risk of outbreaks with significant loss of human life," says Stefan Kunz, a virologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, who was not part of the study.

Black Cat

Was It Rape?

More than half of women who are sexually assaulted do not label the experience as rape, and thus, do not report the crime to the police, according to a James Madison University psychology professor's recent speech.

Dr. Arnold S. Kahn's speech, "Was it Rape or Just a Bad Night? Responses from Victims and Observers," explained his research on the reasons that many women do not acknowledge their sexual assault experience as rape, instead calling it a bad night or blaming themselves.

People

Parents stricter with older kids to set example: game theory study

Parents are more likely to punish their teen's risky behavior when there are younger kids in the family, driven by a desire to set a strict example for these siblings, says new game theory research from the University of Maryland, Duke University and The Johns Hopkins University.

The research team used economic game theory to predict levels of parental discipline. Parental concern for their "reputation" as a disciplinarian with the younger children would be a powerful motivator, they predicted.

Their study, published in the April edition of the Economic Journal, concludes that the exercise of parental control is effective in modifying the risky adolescent behavior.

This is especially true in the case of the older children, who expect stronger penalties because their parents are making an example of them.

But as the younger siblings grow up and the "games" get played out a second or third time, the parent's resolve tends to dwindle, the researchers say.

Black Cat

MU researchers reveal communication tactics used by sexual predators to entrap children

A child's innocence and vulnerability presents a target for a sexual predator's abusive behavior. University of Missouri researchers are beginning to understand the communication process by which predators lure victims into a web of entrapment. This information could better equip parents and community members to prevent, or at least interrupt, the escalation of child sexual abuse.

"Our children are our greatest gift and our greatest responsibility. The fact that they could be abused in any way, shape or form is horrific--both in the moment of the abuse and in the long-term effect," said Loreen Olson, MU associate professor of communication in the College of Arts and Science. "It's a social problem with grave consequences that is prevalent and needs attention. It's incomprehensible, but it's happening. The sexual abuse of children has dramatic negative consequences to their emotional well-being throughout their lives."

Heart

Many African-Americans have a gene that prolongs life after heart failure

About 40 percent of African-Americans have a genetic variant that can protect them after heart failure and prolong their lives, according to research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions.

The genetic variant has an effect that resembles that of beta blockers, drugs widely prescribed for heart failure. The new study offers a reason why beta blockers don't appear to benefit some African-Americans.

"For several years a controversy has existed in the cardiovascular field because of conflicting reports about whether beta blockers helped African-American patients," says senior author Gerald W. Dorn II, M.D., professor of medicine, associate chairman for translational research and director of the Center for Pharmacogenomics at Washington University.

Health

Researchers chart how new flu strains travel

Solving a 60-year-old mystery, researchers have concluded that new flu strains emerge in eastern and southeastern Asia, move to Europe and North America six to nine months later, then travel to South America where they disappear forever.

The new findings should help researchers pick the correct flu strains for each year's vaccine, a process that must be carried out a year ahead of time and that is now analogous to making a long-term weather forecast supported by only limited data.

Pills

Vitamins A, C and E Increase Mortality! & Other Nonsense From Junk Science

The latest attack on vitamins A, C, E, selenium and beta-carotene comes from the Cochrane Library, a widely-read source of information on conventional health matters. In the paper published yesterday, these antioxidants were linked with a higher risk of mortality ("they'll kill you!"), and now serious-sounding scientists have warned consumers away from taking vitamins altogether. But with all the benefits of antioxidants already well known to the well-informed, how did the Cochrane Library arrive at such a conclusion? It's easy: The researchers considered 452 studies on these vitamins, and they threw out the 405 studies where nobody died! That left just 47 studies where subjects died from various causes (one study was conducted on terminal heart patients, for example). From this hand-picked selection of studies, these researchers concluded that antioxidants increase mortality.

Bug

Dust Mites Trump Asthma Prevention Guidelines

Trying to alleviate your asthma by eliminating household dust? Forget about it, a new study suggests.

A comprehensive review of 54 dust-control strategy studies found that none was effective enough in reducing exposure to dust mites that it would improve one's asthma.

Pills

High anxiety? Get ready for new anti-anxiety drugs

Right now, about half of all people who take medicine for an anxiety disorder don't get much help from it. And doctors have no definitive way to predict who will, and who won't, benefit from each anti-anxiety prescription they write.

But a University of Michigan Medical School researcher and his team are working to bring more certainty to how doctors and patients choose anxiety treatments, by probing the connection between brain activity, genetics and medication.

In a paper last month in the Journal of Neuroscience, K. Luan Phan, M.D., and his former University of Chicago colleagues reported intriguing findings from a brain imaging study in occasional, non-dependent, marijuana users.

Image
©K. Luan Phan, M.D.
These brain scans and graph show that response to a threat was greatly reduced when study volunteers received THC, compared with placebo. This indicates that the brain's cannabinoid system may be a good target for anxiety disorder treatments.

Comment: Instead of looking into the core problems that cause millions of Americans to suffer from anxiety disorders, millions are invested in creating new and advanced drugs, while it is clear that the only ones who are going to benefit from are pharmaceutical companies.